In blow molding machines of the wheel type, a wheel supports a plurality of circumferentially spaced sets of molds and is generally rotated about a horizontal axis. Plastic tubing is continuously extruded downwardly between the open mold sections and then the molds are closed as they move about an annular path and the portion of the tubing within the molds is blown within the confines of the mold to provide a hollow article which may be a container.
When formed in dies, hollow plastic articles such as containers or bottles usually have flash in at least one of the shoulder, neck and finish areas. The finish also has material which must be removed to provide an end face for sealing engagement with a closure or cap engageable with the neck of the article.
The present invention is directed to the problem of receiving containers or bottles from the plastic mold machine and delivering them to the trimming apparatus. In prior systems, the containers fall when the molds are open, bounce, turn-over and require orientation for delivery to the trimming apparatus. Among the objectives of the present invention are to provide a method and apparatus for removing containers from the molding machine and maintaining orientation of the container with respect to a delivery conveyor both with respect to the longitudinal axis of the container and the circumferential orientation of the container; which method and apparatus provides for uniform acceleration of the containers to delivery speed to the trimming apparatus without loss of such orientation.
In accordance with the invention, the containers are delivered from a molding machine in the customary fashion wherein the molding machine has molds traveling in a circular path and are ejected, free-falling in the usual manner. Further, in accordance with the invention, a moving vacuum cup conveyor belt is provided which is constructed and arranged to grab the body of the container as it comes into contact with the cups, maintaining the orientation of the container as the container is accelerated to line speed of the conveyor. The conveyor delivers the containers to the trimming apparatus through a belt conveyor which is in timing relation to the vacuum cup conveyor. In a preferred form, the flash end of the container is supported by a flat belt operating at the same speed as the vacuum cup belt.